Uruguayan candombe in Buenos Aires: (Proposing) New urban imaginaries in the “White” city

Abstract

The paper examines the appropriation of public space and the proposal of new urban imaginaries by the practitioners of popular cultural practices. We focus on the development and spatial expansion of Afro-Uruguayan candombe in Buenos Aires. The reterritorialization of this musical practice requires at first embedding it in the historical neighborhood of the city and appealing to the memory of Black presence in the area. The reference to this memory, and the ulterior expansion of candombe to other neighborhoods, imply a work of imagining the city that challenges the dominant image of Buenos Aires as White, modern and European. Defying this image and proposing alternative urban imaginaries, practitioners of candombe establish conflictive interactions with different social agents and actors.